US crude pushed higher on Tuesday, tracking a recovery in US equities, as upbeat comments from Timothy Geithner about American banks lifted sentiment.
The US Treasury Secretary told the Congressional Oversight Panel that the vast majority of US banks have more capital than they need and there is enough money left in the $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Crude tracked a recovery in financial stocks. US light crude oil for May delivery settling up 63 cents at $43.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The May contract expired at the end of Tuesday’s session. The June contract closed up 4 cents at $48.55.
Earlier in the session the May contract traded lower, as investors digested gloomy results from Caterpillar, Merk and DuPont but as Wall St recovered, so did crude prices.
Gold turned lower on Tuesday as optimism about the financial sector recovered and safe haven flows into the yellow metal dried up.
Comex gold for June delivery lost $4.80 to settle at $882.70 an ounce.
Copper fell again, with the May contract declining as much as 4.3% at one point, before settling a few cents lower at $2.087 a pound.
